Rushing To Paradise

From Library Journal Jonathan Oliver's excellent narration is wasted on this tale of an ecological mission gone awry. Dr. Barbara, banned from medicine for practicing euthanasia, establishes a sanctuary for endangered species on a remote Pacific island. Neil, a fatherless 16-year-old, joins Barbara's project because he hopes "perhaps Dr. Barbara can protect me as well as the albatross." Neil is the doctor's most loyal follower, even when he discovers that she has resumed practicing euthanasia on healthy but bothersome members of the mission. The doctor also abandons the facade of running a sanctuary and focuses instead on her true desireAto create a Women's Republic that requires, for purposes of procreation, a single male. Neil is chosen to sire the next generation, and Barbara soon disposes of all unnecessary males. This depressing story of human savagery essentially goes nowhere and is recommended only where Ballard has a very strong following.ABeth Farrell, Portage Cty. Dist. Lib., OH Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.